Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Archer allows four homers in Rays’ 6-1 loss

It was a record setting Friday night for both Evan Longoria and Chris Archer. Longoria collected his seventh homer off Chris Tillman, the most he has against any opposing pitcher, while Archer allowed a career-high four homers en route to Orioles 6-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Offense? What offense?

Longoria provided the Rays with their only run of the game, in the first inning, when he turned on a thigh-high fastball and deposited it into the left-field seats.

For Tampa Bay, it was the 19th straight game in which the team homered dating back to last season, a franchise record.

The homer came on the heels of a Logan Forsythe single. Yet Logan Morrison, who eventually collected his first hit of the season, eliminated Forsythe on a 3-5-3 double play.

The Rays threatened again after Corey Dickerson golfed a slider in the dirt, shooting it off the wall in right. Mark Trumbo misplayed the bounce which allowed Dickerson to collect his first double of the year. Desmond Jennings worked a free pass before Tillman wild-pitched both runners into scoring position. However, Brad Miller, who has yet to collect a hit, swung through an ugly pitch at the top of the zone to end the inning and the threat.

That was it for the Rays offense. They managed to get a man on second just twice more, and any time the team began to generate momentum, they seemed to either ground into a double play (two) or a fielder’s choice.

…And Archer

The Rays one-run lead was short lived. Chris Davis clubbed a flat Archer fastball to center-field on the first pitch of the second inning. The game remained even until the fourth inning, when Matt Wieters worked a 10-pitch at-bat before hitting a single to right-center, scoring Davis from second.

Baltimore put the game away an inning later after Archer allowed three solo shots. Jonathan Schoop sent a hanging slider over the wall in center, extending the lead to 3-1. Then after a strikeout and a one-pitch groundout, Nolan Remold crushed an errant fastball for the second homer of the inning. Finally, Manny Machado completed the trifecta by turning on a hanging slider that neither slid nor broke, giving the Orioles a commanding lead.

Throw in a run-scoring single from Matt Wieters, and you have all the ingredients for an ugly five inning start by the Rays’ ace. Overall Archer, who is now 2-5 lifetime against Baltimore, allowed six runs on ten hits while walking two and striking out five.

Archer has now lasted just five innings in each of his first two starts. A worrisome trend: his velocity has been down in each of his last two starts, while his command also has lacked. Two games at the beginning of the season may not signify much, after all many power pitchers, like Archer, take a bit to build up their arms. However, in context, his velocity began a steady drop late last season.

Archer, who is on an eight start winless streak (extending back to August 31) — and who has collected a 6.15 ERA in that stretch — told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) his problems Friday were not the result of weather and there is absolutely, positively nothing wrong with his arm or anything else.

I feel great, he said. At the end of the day, I just have to execute a little better. Overall, I just didn’t execute. There’s going to be nights where you don’t have everything clicking. But you definitely want to do a better job for your team than I did tonight.

I’ll take Archer at his word, although one cannot feel 100% certain that something isn’t amiss until we see a positive change in the trend.

The ‘pen

Enny Romero followed with a pair of scoreless innings. Aside from the fact that Romero was effectively wild — he pitched himself  into four three-ball counts — the lefty was able to collect two perfect innings. Xavier Cedeno made his 2016 debut in the eighth inning and put together an efficient nine-pitch 1-2-3 frame. The ‘pen retired the last nine Baltimore batters.

The New What Next

The Rays will look to even their mark at .500 on Saturday with LHP Drew Smyly on the mound. Drew allowed three home runs against the Blue Jays on Monday night, although he hasn’t lost in eight career appearances against the Orioles. Smyly will pitch opposite LHP Mike Wright. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.

Rays 4/9/16 Starting Lineup

Forsythe 2B
Morrison DH
Longoria 3B
Dickerson LF
Pearce 1B
Miller SS
Souza RF
Kiermaier CF
Casali C
Smyly LHP

Noteworthiness

— The forecast for Saturday night’s game is worse worse than Friday: a high in the 40s (and a feels-like in the 20s), with rain and possibly snow, plus high winds.

— Per Roger Mooney (Tampa Tribune) according to the Rays pregame notes, it is expected to be 40 degrees tonight at first pitch, with 22 mph winds and a feel-like temperature of 30 degrees. The team has played nine games when it was 40 or colder (they are 6-3). The coldest first pitch in team history was 33 degrees on 4/17/2003 (vs Boston).

— A selection committee met Friday afternoon to cut down a list of 15 firms vying to win the redevelopment of the Trop site (both with and without a new stadium). This happened prior to the first meeting of the Baseball Forever campaign committee.